What We Want Back
by Iya Kari
Summary: Sequel to What We Left Behind. The children are gone and its left some of the strongest ninja of Konoha at a loss. Sakura regains hope though when Tsunade makes her a promise. Now they're fighting for a second chance.


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Guess who's back! I know you've all been waiting on this. And I hope this first chapter can quench your thirst for a bit because guess what? I'm a high school graduate now! So I have absolutely nothing to do, except somehow improve to grade A writing. So here it is guys, the long awaited sequel to What We Left Behind, WHAT WE WANT BACK!

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** What We Want Back**

**Chapter 1**

4 years later...

"Wake up, Sakura."

Sakura's eyes slowly opened. Her arms were folded on the desk cradling her head. Her vision took a moment to focus on Tsunade in front of her. Sakura had been finishing some paperwork for the hokage, last night. She must have dozed off.

"You fell asleep at my desk, again," Tsunade scolded. Sakura lifted her head and rubbed her right eye drearily.

"I was having a good dream," She said, pausing to reflect. Tsunade took it as a given that Sakura would tell her, so she continued to tidy up papers around her desk. Sakura gave a tired smile.

"I was walking through a forest, a beautiful one. Green trees, bright flowers, chirping birds. I heard laughing. A little girl's laugh." By now, Tsunade had guessed where this was going. She decided to slow down in her tedious organizing to listen more carefully."

"I followed the laughing and I came into a clearing," Sakura continued, "There was a waterfall. And a peaceful brook. I saw a small child playing in the shallow water. She was turned away from me, so I couldn't see her. I noticed someone else, sitting on a nearby rock with arms crossed. He raised his head and looked at me, and somehow, in the dream, I knew I had smiled. Sasuke had such an unhappy expression on his face. As if it was so exhausting watching over this child. And that's when the child turned around. With her black hair and green eyes, I knew. It was Kireichi, even though I had never seen her at that age. I just knew." Tsunade hadn't looked away from papers until now. She hadn't noticed that tears had begun to fall from Sakura's eyes. Sakura lowered her head into her arms again, sobbing racking her body. Tsunade didn't know what to do. It had been a few years and still not healed.

"I screwed up, Tsunade-sama, I screwed up bad," Sakura cried, "I was so preoccupied with the thought that I wanted to instantly take care of her, that I never stop to consider how she felt." Tsunade put down her current batch of papers and walked over to the window looking out over the village.

"Come to think of it, I never stopped to consider Sasuke's feelings, ever, in all the time I have known him," Sakura said smiling sadly. Tsunade quite frankly had had enough. She was used to the cheerful everyday Sakura. She hadn't been the same since then.

"Sakura!" Tsunade demanded, pounding her fist into the wall. Sakura was startled to her feet, wiping at her tears.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama!" The hokage pointed her finger towards outside, beyond the walls of the village.

"Somewhere out there, Kireichi is still alive. She's still eating, breathing, being a pain in the ass, and she's probably still carrying on that damned smirk that her god forsaken father gave to her." By this point she had began ranting. "However, I will promise you, that before this year is over, I will send whatever I have to out there." Again she put emphasis on where she pointed. "And I will bring Kireichi back." Though in Tsunade's mind, Kireichi was the least important of who to bring back.

It brought her relief with what happened next. Sakura had started laughing. Her smile seemed genuine. Sakura fell back into the seat at the desk.

"I'm getting to old for this Tsunade-sama." Sakura said, stretching. The hokage developed a tick in her eye.

"You're old?! I've got a crick in my back, now get out of my seat!" Sakura got up without complaint and began heading for the exit. Tsunade settled into her chair and watched as Sakura began to leave.

"Go see Sasuke," Tsunade said as an order, "Tell him the good news." Sakura stopped to look back for a second. Then with a small nod she left.

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Sasuke had become even more violent within the last few years. It had only showed in his attitude towards people, but it damn well murdered the scenery. Continuously, he buried kunai into trees surrounding the training grounds. None with a particular target, just as long as it left some kind of gash on the bark. Any shrubbery within a one mile radius had been burned to ashes. The woodland animals in the area were non-existent. No one knew what fate had befallen them.

He had been here since 5 this morning. It was already noon. Even in the sweltering heat of the high sun, he continued. Three more kunai were launched at a seemingly torn in half tree. Three more kunai appeared in his hand. He paused, feeling a presence nearby. He didn't even have to turn around to know who it was.

"Perhaps you should take a break young master," Sigfried said walking into the area with a towel.

"Go away," Sasuke simply said, without even turning to face him. He just started back up his massacre of the surrounding foliage. Sigfried sighed leaving the towel on the low branch of a nearby tree.

"Well then. When you are done, there is a guest at the house." Sigfried said walking away. Sasuke threw a few more kunai before he turned around to look at where Sigfried had left the towel, slightly curious as to who this "guest" was.

Naruto had become more seclusive. Everyday he'd constantly take walks through the village. There was never any particular place he'd go, no one he'd talk to. He'd just walk all day, until finally, when sick of it he'd return home. He'd still go on missions, but he seemed to have stopped aspiring to be the new hokage. He'd walk straight past Ichiraku without even a glance. Iruka hated to see him like this.

As he walked by the Yamanaka flower shop, he knew there was someone who felt his pain. Ino had had it rough as well. Her and Shikamaru had divorced. He was off with Temari now. It had been her own fault though. Her most precious thing in the world had ended up not even being his. She ran the flower shop, no complaints. Always, she acted friendly, but she was just the best actor of them all. When alone with Sakura she didn't know whether she should hate her or not. But as a new customer walked in, she put away her doubts and put on a smile.

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Sasuke had taken his time walking back towards the house. He was in no particular hurry to converse with anyone. As he walked to the front door, he caught a whiff off perfume. It was safe to assume his guest was a female. That still left a number of options. The hokage, fan girls, seamstresses. However when he walked into the living room, he saw the one person he didn't like to see anymore.

Sakura had been sitting drinking tea with Sigfried. She looked up at him as he entered, not even blushing at the fact that he was shirtless. (I mean, she's seen a lot worse .)

"You shouldn't beat up the training grounds so much," Sakura says, knowing where he had been, "You can burn a forest within minutes, but it'll take decades for it to grow back."

"If you've only come to debate environmental issues with me, you might as well leave," Sasuke said walking straight past her, moving towards the kitchen.

"Actually, I've come to tell you something. Tsunade-sama has promised me that, by the end of the year, she going to bring Kireichi back." Sakura said quietly. Sasuke paused at hearing the name. A moment of silence passed between them.

"And you actually believe her?" Sasuke says. turning his head to see some kind of reaction.

"I don't believe Tsunade-sama can do it alone. I believe it'll also have to be a leap of faith on Kireichi's part. I have faith in her," Sakura says turning to look at Sasuke, "Don't you?" Sasuke seemed taken off-guard by the question. The girl he had barely known for a week. Could he really have faith in her, even if he knew nothing about her? He wanted to, because he wanted her to come back. He wanted a second chance to start over. However, he just didn't have it in him.

"No, I don't," Sasuke says facing back to the direction he was walking. Sakura sighed behind him.

"Then she has no faith in us being her parents, because she thinks like you Sasuke," Sakura says standing up. She bowed, thanking Sigfried for the tea, and then proceeded to leave. And at that, she left behind an aggravated Sasuke.

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As Sakura stepped out the front door, she noticed a familiar face walking down the road.

"Naruto!" She called. He lifted his head to see her.

"Ah, Sakura." He was surprised when she raced from Sasuke's porch to hug him. When she pulled back, her hands were still on her shoulders.

"Things are going to get better Naruto, so don't worry. Tsunade-sama never gives promises lightly. That's why its rare she ever gives one." She says smiling. With that she removed her hands and ran off. Naruto was confused as to what she had been talking about, but that's all it took. Her confusion had halted him, breaking him, if only for a moment, from his new routine. And possibly awakening a new hope inside of him.

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As Sakura continued home, she realized that some flowers would brighten up her house. Something to reflect the optimism she was feeling. She changed direction, heading towards the Yamanaka flower shop. Even the glare from Ino as she walked in wasn't enough to dampen her day. She picked out roses and walked up to the counter.

"Your in a good mood," Ino said distastefully. Sakura simply nodded her head as she got out her coin purse.

"You wont be alone for much longer," Sakura stated before leaving, not even realizing Ino had overcharged her on the flowers. Ino hated seeing her so happy when she suffered, but she wanted to believe, the littlest bit, that Sakura was right. She didn't want to be alone anymore.

Sakura had finally made it home. She'd be sleeping in her own bed tonight, not at a desk. She had re-decorated the place, to make it fit her more. Even though the house shared bad memories, it had the good as well. And a good ninja learned to move on, adapt.

For dinner she decided to treat herself to her favorite dish, rice and curry. She had decided since hearing Tsunade's words, that she wouldn't constantly punish herself anymore. It would never make anything right. And she hoped that her friends could stop punishing themselves as well. Even Sasuke...especially Sasuke. After all, she still loved him deep down and she'd hold on to the one thing that connected them. As she lay in her bed looking at the ceiling, she held her pillow and felt some kind of contentment.

"I have faith in you Kireichi. I know you'll follow the right path, and I will too. Then one day." Sakura yawns. "I Hope to meet you...on that path..." Sakura quieted into a deep sleep, where she once again dreamed of the family that could have been, and that could still be.

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So, was it all that you hoped for? Probably not, and I apologize. I have to get back in the habit. I hope you'll stick with me until the next installment, though. So review, give me a hand in the beginning of this new story.

-Iya Kari

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